crip camp

DIRECTOR'S & PRODUCER'S: JIM LEBRECHT & NICOLE NEWNHAM

Not overcoming. Becoming.

Just down the road from Woodstock, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a parallel revolution blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers. With joy and humor, Crip Camp explores the universal experience of summer camp awakenings that would transform lives and shape the future of the disability rights movement. Told from the point of view of former camper Jim LeBrecht, the film traces the journeys of campers up to the present day, in this compelling and untold story of a powerful journey towards inclusion.

Crip Camp will take viewers deep inside a revolutionary era and on a wild trip; a ride from oppression to empowerment, from infantilization to freedom - the trip of a lifetime.

Jim LeBrecht

James LeBrecht, Producer & Director, has over 35 years of experience as a film and theater sound designer and mixer, author and disability rights activist.

Jim began his career in the theater, working as the resident sound designer at Berkeley Repertory Theatre for 10 years. His film credits include The Island President, The Waiting Room, The Kill Team, and Audrie and Daisy. A complete list of his film credits (over 145) can be viewed at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0495898/Jim co-authored Sound and Music for the Theatre: the art and technique of design. Now in it’s 4th edition, the book is used as a textbook all over the world.Jim’s work as an activist began in high school and continued at UC, San Diego, where he helped found the Disabled Students Union. Jim is currently a board member at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, which works for the rights of the disabled through education, legislation and litigation.

Nicole Newnham

Nicole Newnham, Producer & Director, has been a documentary filmmaker for over twenty years. Most recently she produced the virtual reality documentary Collisions, which premiered at the World Economic Forum and at Sundance. Collisions was recently nominated for a Cine Golden Eagle.

Nicole co-directed & produced the Emmy-nominated documentary The Revolutionary Optimists, which inspired her to develop Map Your World (www.mapyourworld.org), a storytelling platform for young changemakers.

Previously, Nicole co-directed and produced The Rape of Europa, which enjoyed a successful theatrical release, has been a much-broadcast PBS primetime special, was nominated for two national Emmys and a WGA award, and was shortlisted for the 2008 Documentary Oscar.

Nicole was also nominated for an Emmy for directing and co-producing Sentenced Home, broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens. She also co-produced They Drew Fire, a widely acclaimed special for PBS and wrote the companion book, distributed by Harper Collins.